[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″] 

The 23-year old U.S. soldier who fled to North Korea is now known as a repeat offender of the law.

BBC News reports that Travis King had been previously detained in South Korea for multiple offenses and spent two months in jail before he was released. While he was supposed to return to the United States for disciplinary action, he instead ended up taking a tour at the demilitarized zone between the Koreas, where he made a run for North Korea.

The State Department said discussions with South Korea and Sweden, historically a mediator between North Korea and Western allies, are now ongoing. But a North Korean diplomat who defected to the South says King may soon become a propaganda tool for North Korea.

On the same day that King escaped to the communist country, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in four decades. North Korea responded by test-firing two missiles with the capability of reaching the submarine.